As tax protesters staged a "tea party" rally at the Capitol today, liberal groups staged a counter-campaign in support of President Barack Obama and his budget. The founder of ProgressNow Colorado, Michael Huttner, holds up a small broom, signalling "We're Here to Sweep Up Bush's Mess."

Tax protesters gathered at the state Capitol on April 15, 2009, as part of a nationwide series of protests.

More than 5,000 people crowded onto the west side of the state Capitol this afternoon, as part of a nationwide string of tax-day protests dubbed “tea parties.”

Speakers at the protest, including a number of Republican activists, lawmakers and candidates, railed against current federal spending, President Barack Obama and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter. They called the economic stimulus package fiscally irresponsible, and they accused politicians who supported it of ignoring the voice of the people.

“The people in power deceived us,” Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck told the crowd during the rally, “and we were complacent. We are complacent no more.”

Protesters at the rally carried signs with slogans such as “Obamanomics: Chains we can believe in” and “We’re not Europeans, we’re Americans.” A number said they believe the president’s economic policies are pushing the nation toward socialism and financial ruin.

“It’s pretty sad that I’ve lived 65 years and never had a reason before to protest something,” said Bertha Holland, who carried a sign that read, “Don’t stimulate. Liberate.”

“What’s happening scares me,” she added.

The event was monitored by a number of Colorado State Patrol troopers and Denver police officers, although no incidents were reported.

The Colorado event was organized by Brian Campbell, a Republican who said he is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter in the 2010 election. Campbell said he began organizing such “tea parties” — a name meant to invoke the Boston Tea Party of 1773 — earlier this year after seeing a message on the social-networking site Twitter about similar events around the country. He said he is worried about what the country’s future will look like for his five children.

“They need to be able to be free,” Campbell said. “They need to be able to fail or succeed in a free way. I don’t know anything else to do but fight.”

Campbell said he intended the event to be nonpartisan — he said he also invited a number of Democrats to speak — and strictly focused on financial issues. Rally attendees, though, had broader aims. Some held signs protesting illegal immigration, abortion, a cap-and-trade carbon tax, and the Internal Revenue Service.

Toward the end of the rally, a man on a megaphone began shouting that income tax is unconstitutional. Earlier in the day, one man held a sign saying “Where’s the birth certificate,” an apparent reference to rumors — deemed false by the state of Hawaii — that Obama was not born in the U.S.

Meanwhile, a number of liberal groups conducted their own counter-campaign during the day, holding a news conference before the tea-party rally, then milling about the crowd during it. Representatives from the groups — which included ACORN, Colorado Progressive Action, Environment Colorado, NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado and ProgressNow Colorado — said they support Obama’s budget and the stimulus package, much of which Obama has vowed will go to infrastructure projects.

“It’s the first time in recent history that I can remember that we can celebrate the investment in our critical public infrastructure,” said Jessie Ulibarri with Colorado Progressive Action. “If we want to move beyond this recession, we have to invest in these public structures.”

Michael Huttner, the founder of ProgressNow Colorado, said the “tea parties” were not the grassroots movements they claim but instead “AstroTurf.”

“The tea parties are the latest version in a months-long campaign against change, organized by right-wing think tanks and lobbyists who have done well over the last eight years under George Bush,” he said.

Huttner said national conservative political groups such as FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity have been linked to the movement.

But Campbell said the Denver event was locally planned and funded. He said the audio equipment and podium were donated and that any other costs were paid for out of his pocket.

“We think the sponsors are all these people who came and brought things with them,” Campbell said.

While state education officials are sharing their proposals aimed at ending the teacher shortage in Colorado, the state’s largest teacher association says the overall plan lacks specifics and shortchanges traditional preparation programs.